Woman in labor stranded by snow is rescued BLIZZARD '93

March 14, 1993|By Sherrie Ruhl | Sherrie Ruhl,Staff Writer

Frantic, Bill Perkins kept telling the 911 dispatcher he had never delivered a baby before. As the snow piled up outside and drifts forced the closing of roads yesterday, the Bel Air man panicked like never before.

With good reason. His fiancee's water broke without warning. She's seven months pregnant -- and expecting twins.

Things got more dicey for Mr. Perkins when emergency workers arrived at 1:50 p.m. at the Bel Air apartment where he and 33-year-old Judy Brown live.

Unable to get the screaming Ms. Brown down a narrow staircase, rescue workers using a hook-and-ladder fire truck lowered her on a stretcher from a second-floor window.

"I was doing all right until the firemen got there, but then I got over-excited," Mr. Perkins said. "This is the worst snow storm I have ever seen, and it just tore me up, watching her go out that window."

Capt. Peter Caudill of the Bel Air Volunteer Fire Department said an ambulance and the fire truck navigated up to 2 feet of packed snow on a side street to reach Ms. Brown in the second-floor apartment in a detached home in the 100 block of Archer Street.

"This is definitely not the easiest thing we have ever done," Captain Caudill said. "It was pretty slick."

An ambulance took Ms. Brown to Fallston General Hospital, and she was later transferred to Franklin Square Hospital.

Holly Duggan, a Franklin Square spokeswoman, said yesterday evening that Ms. Brown was "resting comfortably" and was not expected to give birth last night.

"I was just praying that the ambulance would get here before those babies were born," he said. "I was afraid the ambulance wasn't going to be able to make it through the snow outside. I have never been so scared in my life."